Newsletter Newsletter of the Broseley Local History Society Incorporating the Wilkinson Society May 2011 MEETINGS PROGRAMME Meetings of the Broseley Local History Society 1 Jun Rocks and History of Loamhole Dingle, are held on the first Wednesday of each month at a guided walk with Chris and Mike 7.30 pm at the Broseley Social Club, High Street, Rayner. See below for details. unless otherwise announced. Car parking is 2 Jul Trip to Blaenavon, Monmouthshire. available at the back of the Club. See page 2 for details. 7 Sept The Wenlock Olympian Society Members are requested to be seated by 7.30 pm to by Helen Cromarty. allow speakers a prompt start. 5 Oct Annual General Meeting followed by a Visitors are welcome but are asked to give a talk by John Powell The Coalbrookdale donation towards Society funds. Institute. 2 Nov Fords and Ferries on the Shropshire CONTENTS Severn, Part 2 by Neil Clarke (joint Programme page 1 meeting with Friends of the IGM at Coalbrookdale). New Members page 1 7 Dec Annual dinner. Forthcoming Events Further details from Neil Clarke 01952 504135. Summer Walk page 1 July Outing page 2 NEW MEMBERS The Society would like to welcome the following Previous Meetings new members: Shrewsbury to Bridgnorth John and Mary Guest, Church Stretton by boat page 2 Maxwell Jones, Broadstairs, Kent Our Wilkinson Heritage page 3 Derek Boult, Broseley Jim and Lesley Leek, Broseley Shropshire’s Original Iron Age page 4 Who do I think I am? page 6 FORTHCOMING EVENTS John Randall, 1810-1910 page 7 Summer Walk Commemorative Plaque page 7 Loamhole Dingle Wednesday 1 June John Wilkinson Monument page 7 7.15 pm for 7.30 start Severn Gorge Meet at Severn Gorge Countryside Trust’s new Countryside Trust page 8 premises in Darby Road, Coalbrookdale. Book Scene page 8 This year the Society’s Summer Walk will start at Bookshop page 8 the Severn Gorge Countryside Trust’s premises in Darby Road, Coalbrookdale and, with Chris and What’s On? page 8 Mike Rayner as guides, will follow the footpath Mailbox page 10 down Loamhole Dingle. Please wear suitable Blaenavon booking form page 13 footwear. This will be followed by a tour of the SGCT’s offices, a state of the art eco-friendly 1 building using indigenous materials. Non walkers blast furnaces and employed about 300 men, and are welcome to stay in the meeting room, where were of crucial importance in the development of light refreshments will be served. Parking is the ability to use cheap, low quality, high sulphur limited so sharing cars would be advisable. iron ores worldwide. The site finally ceased full scale production in 1904. Those members intending to come to this event, whether to walk or just sit and enjoy the evening, There is a good licensed cafeteria on the Big Pit are asked to contact Gill Pope on 01952 883960 by site which will serve either a ploughman’s lunch or Saturday 28 May so that arrangements may be a traditional welsh cawl (a soup with meat and made for refreshments. vegetables) with a bread roll at a cost of £4.50 per head. This must be booked ahead, or bring your July Outing own packed lunch. Blaenavon World Heritage Site To book your place on what promises to be a very Saturday 2 July interesting day, please complete the form on page Dep: Broseley Square, 8.15 am 13 and return it, together with your payment, to Ret: Broseley, approx 7.00 pm Michael Pope, Rivendell, 2 Dark Lane, Broseley Cost: Admission free TF12 5LH, tel: 01952 883960, by not later than Coach: £10.00 per person 15 June. Lunch (optional): £4.50 per person Parking: Free parking in the Library car park, PREVIOUS MEETINGS Bridgnorth Road Shrewsbury to Bridgnorth by Boat This year’s outing will be to the Blaenavon World At the February meeting a full house of members Heritage Site on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. thoroughly enjoyed a virtual trip with Ron Miles The morning will start with an optional tour down when, some 45 years ago, he and his three small the Big Pit, an award winning national museum. daughters took an inflatable canoe down the Sunk in about 1860 this was the last working coal River Severn from Shrewsbury to Bridgnorth, mine in South Wales, closing only in 1980. The photographing everything of interest along the guided tours last for about an hour and members way; some of these photographs formed the basis are advised to wear adequate footwear. For those of his slide presentation. who would prefer to remain above ground there is plenty to see, such as the winding engine house, Members were reminded of the fun of the the pithead baths, the blacksmith’s workshop and Shrewsbury Carnival, as well as how some of the the history of coal mining. streets in the town used to look, before Ron launched his canoe and set off downstream to In the afternoon members can visit the nearby Atcham with its twin bridges. The older of these ironworks which were built in 1788 and are the bridges was built in 1774 while the newer one, best 18th century preserved ironworks in opened in 1929, now carries the traffic over the existence. Opened in 1789 the ironworks had three Severn. The Big Pit at Blaenavon is now an award winning Shrewsbury Carnival about 1966 national museum hotograph courtesy of Gillian Pope hotographs courtesy of Ron in this article Miles P P 2 OUR WILKINSON HERITAGE At this year’s annual Wilkinson lecture Vin Callcut reviewed the life and achievements of John Wilkinson, relating them to conditions today. Wilkinson had made most of his early fortune in sales of improved products by better methods of ironmaking, casting and machining. Having learned a lot from his father in Cumbria and Bersham he successfully started his own business Of the two bridges at Atcham. the near one was built in 1774, in Broseley and soon expanded his interests in the far one in 1929. This now carries the traffic over the river. areas of East Shropshire and South Staffordshire. Further downstream they came to the bridge at Many products were made practicable with his Cressage from where there is a splendid view of improved production techniques including vital the Wrekin. Here a side trip took them to Much developments of reliable cannon and effective Wenlock to the cinema opposite the Guildhall, cylinders for steam engines. These gave Britain a although today this building houses the museum great advantage over other counties although he and tourist office. did not gain realistic royalties. From there it was on to Buildwas and the Iron Having reached his capacity in the ironmaking Bridge where they stopped off to photograph the industry, he expanded into other enterprises Jackfield Band being filmed for the Dr Bronowski including copper extraction, refining and dealing, television series The Ascent of Man. lead mining, refining and fabrication and the metallurgical chemical industry. Other interests After that it was plain sailing the rest of the way to included banking, warehousing and canal building. Bridgnorth where, having successfully reached Having bought plenty of land to provide supplies their goal, Ron finally deflated the canoe, packed of fuel, ores and limestone he became very up their gear and caught the bus back to Shrewsbury. interested in agricultural developments. He had Jackfield Band being filmed for the 1970s BBC television some interests in local administration and was key series The Ascent of Man in coordinating the efforts of the residents of Last stop, the bridge at Bridgnorth Broseley in promoting the building of an iron bridge across the Severn Gorge. Without his persistence Pritchard’s design would not have been accepted and pushed through its parliamentary stages. If the bridge had not been built of iron there would be no place called Ironbridge and hence no local World Heritage Site. Wilkinson therefore deserves great credit for the extensive local tourist income although little effort is made to make visitors aware of their good fortune in having such an inheritance. The slide presentation related many Wilkinson activities to what can still be seen today and is supported by a 24 page paper with about 60 references. An edited version of this will appear in the 2011 edition of the Society’s Journal. For the present the paper is available for comment on the website www.oldcopper.org.uk, but without illustrations. 3 SHROPSHIRE’S ORIGINAL IRON AGE In April Shelagh Lewis, Madeley Living History Project manager, gave a talk on the various hill forts to be found in Shropshire. These had been built during the Iron Age which, in Britain, stretched for about 1,000 years from about 800 BC. Shelagh opened her talk by describing the population of Europe at that time, made up as it Distribution of hill forts was of a number of different tribes, including Celts throughout and Gauls, who shared a similar language. England and Wales during Although there was a distinct hierarchy within the hotographs courtesy of Shelagh in this article Lewis the Iron Age P tribes most of the people were farmers who, it The Iron Age is known for its building of hill forts. seemed, were anxious to make themselves look A considerable influx of people into the Wrekin more warlike – washing their hair in lime area at this time, coupled with a change of climate apparently made it stick out in a very aggressive resulting in harder winters, caused pressure on fashion. They also let their moustaches grow long available land.